Private Desert

Daniel, a police agent on suspension from work for assaulting a colleague, has fallen in love through an app with someone who lives thousands of miles away from him, bang in the middle of nowhere in Brazil.

After his text messages and phone calls unexpectedly go answered, he opts to hit the road and drive some 2,700 kilometres northwards from Curitiba, where he tirelessly looks after his senile old father, to Sobradinho where his new platonic love lives.

When Daniel finally makes it to his destination, he is in for a big surprise that he wasn't in the least bargaining for when he embarked on this make-or-break trip into the platonic unknown.

It is a two-hour film, every second of which I really with easily charismatic Daniel, and much more so because I did not know what this film was about, and to my pleasant surprise it didn't put me to sleep despite the beginning being a bit slow. You soon begin to take pity on Daniel because he is fully devoted to the care of his mentally disabled dad while he awaits trial for his misconduct at his workplace. To make his existence more miserable than it already is, the girl he has met online and imbues him with the energy to soldier on is no longer replying to his text messages or taking his phone calls, all of which makes you feel sympathy for good-hearted Daniel.

If you don't have a good command of the language, I recommend you watch Brazilian films in Portuguese with the aid of subtitles in a language that you speak. The beauty of these foreign films resides in the language that they are made in, and Portuguese is one of those languages that is quite pleasing to the ear, and much more so when you you are able to understand it and speak it. I really liked the dialogues that Daniel had with his lover towards the end of the film, especially the way his lover uttered words in a northern Brazilian accent.

I would have expected the end to be slightly different chiefly because the culmination and display of their pent-up emotions only lasted a mere 3 to 4 minutes. I wanted a bit more which would have been like the icing on the sweet and sour cake that the director throws at the viewer right at the end.

The two hours of this film flew by without a second of boredom. The mundane life of Daniel, looking after Dad, shopping, seeing his sister, was fascinating as was the road trip and subsequent meeting with Robson.

Family dynamics were true to life and provoked real emotion in the case of both protagonists. I especially liked Robson's granny who transcended her beliefs for the sake of her ward.

It's hard to be particular about the film as I don't want to include spoilers. I have to say that I had guessed what the problem about meeting up was before it was revealed. And afterwards, the issue was dealt with realistically and sensitively.

The ending could not have been different and was perfect. Both leads had their own paths to tread but the events leading to the finale were a satisfying conclusion to the film that left a warm glow.

This is an absolute must for someone wanting to see a deeply moving romance.

"Private Desert" tells the story of an off-duty police officer under internal investigation about a case of bad behavior. His life is a complete mess, jobless, looking after a retired and sick father, plus he's in a cultural shock with his young sister. His only escape is online dating with a mysterious girl. Feeling completely under pressure from the development of his case, he decides to travel across the country to find the girl who he considers to be the only real tangible thing in his current life. In his search, he finds that life is made of many shapes and colors.

This film is about searching, discovering what we are, where we came from. No matter your race, your sex, your age, the color of your eyes or hair, we have to find ourselves within ourselves. We don't know what we really are until we face our reality. Also, that love is a feeling and not an object.

Beautiful and amazing performance by Antonio Saboia as Daniel and Pedro Fasanaro as Robson. Mr. Fasanaro shines and his innocent and angelical looks is the perfect balance to the harshness of Mr. Saboia (the police officer). It also reflects the contrast of northeastern and southern of Brazil.

There are some issues with the screenplay and continuity but overall Aly Muritiba was able to deliver a very human film.

The two main characters in this film give strong, nuanced performances.

This is a slow moving film. It grows on you and one needs to pay attention.

What I enjoyed in particular was that I never knew quite what was going to happen next. Each section of the film took one on a path that was slightly different from what had occurred before. One feels the turmoil inside each character.

The plot could easily have led to histrionics - even a bloodbath or a fistfight - but it doesn't. The ending just shows the slow path that each character is taking to find their fulfillment in life.

Suffice it to say that this is an LGBTQ film - but that is not all what it is about.

"However, Daniel's turnabout feels sketchy and is insufficiently spelt out, Muritiba applies a tacky sex scene to vicariously bear out Robson's irreplaceability to Daniel, which overrides the blinkered male/female distinction, then, just when Robson feels dismally dejected, he can be lifted up to finally embark on a new journey from the dead-end status quo, and it is a relief that the pair's happy ending is not staying together but both find new courage and purpose from each other, to brave their kismet paved with impediments ahead, they might be reunited in the future, but at that particular moment, Muritiba is markedly astute to leave the story as where it is, a compelling, edifying story about sexual fluidity that hits like a bang to navel-gazers, but serves as a delectable dish to the queer cinema."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.